The FBI has uncovered evidence that foreign hackers penetrated two state election databases in recent weeks, prompting the bureau to warn election officials across the country to take new steps to enhance the security of their computer systems, according to federal and state law enforcement officials.

The FBI warning, contained in a “flash” alert from the FBI’s Cyber Division, a copy of which was obtained by Yahoo News, comes amid heightened concerns among U.S. intelligence officials about the possibility of cyberintrusions, potentially by Russian state-sponsored hackers, aimed at disrupting the November elections.

Those concerns prompted Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson to convene a conference call with state election officials on Aug. 15, in which he offered his department’s help to make state voting systems more secure, including providing federal cybersecurity experts to scan for vulnerabilities, according to a “readout” of the call released by the department.

Johnson emphasized in the call that Homeland Security was not aware of “specific or credible cybersecurity threats” to the election, officials said. But three days after that call, the FBI Cyber Division issued a potentially more disturbing warning, titled “Targeting Activity Against State Board of Election Systems.” The alert, labeled as restricted for “NEED TO KNOW recipients,” disclosed that the bureau was investigating cyberintrusions against two state election websites this summer, including one that resulted in the “exfiltration,” or theft, of voter registration data. “It was an eye opener,” a senior law enforcement official said of the bureau’s discovery of the intrusions. “We believe it’s kind of serious, and we’re investigating.”

Healthcare giant Aetna directly threatened the federal government by vowing to pull out of Obamacare if its proposed merger to Humana was not approved, revealed a letter by the company's CEO sent in July and reported on Wednesday.

The letter, obtained by the Huffington Post through a Freedom of Information Act request, proves what many observers have suspected and what the company has been denying: that its decision to pull out of most of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) health exchanges was a bargaining chip in its effort to achieve the controversial merger.

Aetna's threatening letter was authored by Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini, who would have "personally [made] up to $131 million" if the Humana merger had gone through, as International Business Times reporter David Sirota observed last month.

The Justice Department sued to block the merger last month.

Bernie Sanders tweeted a link to the Huffington Post's reporting, calling the article a "must-read" and condemning the government for giving so much power to corporations like Aetna:

The senator said he will reintroduce his legislation to create a “Medicare-for-all” system in the next session of the Senate, “hopefully” after Democrats regain control of the chamber.
“In my view, the provision of healthcare cannot continue to be dependent upon the whims and market projections of large private insurance companies whose only goal is to make as much profit as possible,” Sanders said in a statement Tuesday. “That is why we need to join every other major country on earth and guarantee health care to all as a right, not a privilege,” he said.

Aetna announced late Monday it would pull out of ObamaCare exchanges in 11 states, including Arizona, Florida and Texas. The company’s CEO, Mark Bertolini, cited $200 million in losses over the past few months as a major reason for the move. The insurer’s high-profile departure is a major blow to the law. Still, longtime public option proponents believe they have a new opportunity to take aim at the healthcare law's heavy reliance on insurers for coverage.

Sanders, who battled Hillary Clinton in a close Democratic presidential primary before conceding last month, has long fought for a government-run insurance plan, which he says would wrest healthcare coverage out of the control of private insurers. In his statement Tuesday, Sanders slammed insurers like Aetna for pulling out of the exchanges “despite the Affordable Care Act bringing them millions more paying customers than ever before.”

“These companies are more concerned with making huge profits than ensuring access to healthcare for all Americans,” he said.

Liberal Democrats have been increasingly vocal about the need for a public option push next year, with growing hopes that Clinton will win the White House and Democrats will take back the Senate. Sanders is hoping to become chairman of the powerful Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which would give him a high podium in a healthcare fight.

Still, the fight would be taxing for a Democratic Party that has painful memories about the ObamaCare battle in 2009 and 2010. The fight over the law — which passed without any Republicans — was a key factor in the GOP wave the 2010 election cycle, costing the Democrats their majority in the House.

Looking forward to Hillary's leadership on this important issue.

Can we be sure that she will support at least a public option and lowering Medicare eligibility to 55 as she has stated?

EDIT: from her recent speech - "I’ve also said I will defend and improve the Affordable Care Act, and for me, that includes giving Americans, in every state, a choice of a public option health insurance plan that will help everybody afford coverage, it will strengthen competition, and drive down costs."

That's not to say many of us still want single-payer in the future; I'm just confirming that we all agree to work towards getting a public option in obamacare, as well as lowering the Medicare age to 55, right?

TPP
NAFTA
GATT
PNTR
War in Middle East
Military spending
Social security expansion
Public option
Medicare for all
College for all
Fight for 15
Curbing police violence
Cannabis
Drug war
Increase taxes on hoarding class
Reinstating Glass-Steigal
Breaking up Banks
Wall Street reform